Say Anything Blog

Anytime you’re partnering up with China on free speech issues you know there’s a problem.

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

The plan was first created as a way to combat child pornography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to “protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users”.

Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but “we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material.”

The net nanny proposal was originally going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option of contacting their internet service provider to be excluded from the service.

Doing this under the guise of combating child pornography is an inspired tactic for those who would wish to control internet content, and while most of us can agree that stopping kiddie porn is an honorable and important goal I don’t think many of us will like where this is heading.

Government is notorious for mission creep.  They start out with one objective, and the next thing you know the politicians and bureaucrats have expanded the scope of their mission to a hundred other objectives.  First it’ll be kiddie porn.  Then it’ll be porn in general (which, whatever your feelings about it, shouldn’t be illegal).  Then it’ll be racism and hate speech, two terms with often highly subjective definitions.  Then we’ll creep into political speech.

It will happen.

As abhorrent as kiddie porn is, and as much as I think we need to keep fighting against it and putting its perpetrators and consumers in jail, I’m willing to tolerate the status quo in exchange for keeping the government’s hands off the internet.